Crono's New Look: Alt Dome
by ShinnokRaiden99
Summary: Crono, Lucca and Robo investigate a facility to stop the return of Mother Brain, however they soon witness first hand what the Dome is REALLY intended for.


Crono didn't think he'd ever get used to the year 2300 AD.

Outside the domes, the desolate landscape seemed to stretch out in all directions for miles, the only thing breaking the monotony being the occasional dead tree or abandoned city. No living beings were to be found, aside from the deranged, the mutated or the mechanical. The sharp, bitter winds stung his skin as his scarf flapped behind him, tugging and flapping almost as if screaming "let's go back". He didn't blame it; the joy and life that made the world bearable was gone. There was no other way to describe it. The world was dead.

The young swordsman flinched as he felt a hand gripping his shoulder, but relaxed as he turned and found himself staring at a pair of large, lens-covered eyes.

"There it is!" Lucca yelled over the winds, pointing onto the horizon. And sure enough, where she pointed was the shape Crono had become increasingly familiar with and thankful for the more time he spent in the future; a silver circular structure, rising up out of the earth into a spherical shape. Their destination: Alt Dome.

It was something Lucca had discovered at the Geno Dome, decoding some of the Mother Brain's data files. While Geno Dome was the base of the insane computer's plot and where her main CPU was, of course the AI was wise enough to save a backup of her programming in another location on the off-chance that something went wrong. The area, Alt Dome, was an earlier plan to "make use" of humans that the machines abandoned when Mother Brain chose to switch to her "kill all humans" scheme. Crono shuddered; Mother Brain was without a doubt one of the most unnerving opponents he had ever faced. Ever since he started his time-travelling adventure he was no stranger to wars, racism or even death; he had witnessed the war between the humans and fiends in the Middle Ages, or the Reptites hatred of Ayla's tribe in Prehistory, or even the way the Enlightened Ones looked down on their Earthbound brethren in Antiquity. But Mother Brain was different. She was brutally efficient, sending her machines to attack what little remnants of humanity remained before dragging them to her base, where their lives were swiftly and efficiently terminated like animals in a slaughterhouse. Humanity had long given up hope ever since the day of Lavos and did nothing to fight back, and Mother Brain had nothing to gain from this senseless murder. Geno Dome was well name; the plot that took place there was nothing but genocide.

Mother Brain couldn't be allowed to return. It was for that reason that he, Lucca and Robo had decided that Alt Dome had to be shut down, before whatever program activated that would use the backup to resurrect Mother Brain. The trio approached the front entrance of the Dome, the large metal doors shut tight. Robo approached, his eyes flashing as he scanned the entrance up and down.

"The door is made of thirty four inch steel, titanium and chromium alloy with no means of opening or penetrating. The electronic locks have long since degraded, and even if we had the keycard to gain access the system will no doubt fail to activate. But exposure to the open air and a lack of maintenance has caused the concrete surrounding the doorway to corrode," the bronze robot stated aloud, as he took several steps backward. "If I were to provide a sufficient amount of force to the centre of the doors..."

Instead of finishing his sentence, Robo squatted down before speeding, charging at the entrance with top speed and ramming the door with his full body weight. The hinges tore themselves free from the concrete. A loud creak echoed in the empty halls of the dome followed by a thunderous crash as the doors hit the ground.

"Way to go, Robo!" Lucca cheered, patting the metal man on the back. She peered into the dark corridors, adjusting her glasses with a gulp. "It... uh... sure is DARK in there..."

"There will likely be a backup generator deeper in the facility," Robo stated calmly. "If you are afraid, Crono and I can go activate it."

"A-Afraid?" Lucca yelled, blushing. "Of course I'm not afraid! I... I just... want to do some perimeter checks is all, so we don't get ambushed inside!"

Crono rolled his eyes.

Robo nodded. "As you wish, Lucca. Crono and I shall begin exploring." He nodded as he entered the facility. Crono chuckled as he followed his mechanical teammate.

* * *

Twin beams of light cut through the blackened corridors of the Alt Dome, leading Crono deeper and deeper. Maybe Lucca had a point about the darkness, by this point Crono couldn't even see a hand in front of his face. The only thing he could do is stick close to Robo and pray they didn't get separated.

"We are here!" Robo's voice announced as he stopped, just in time for Crono to get a faceful of Robo's metal backside. Rubbing his nose, Crono peered around the miniature mech and followed his eyelights to a large computer terminal, much like the many he had seen before. The enormous black screen loomed over the time travellers, yet an unpreturbed Robo stepped forward and began typing. Despite his best efforts, nothing happened.

"Hm," Robo grunted in his mechanical voice, and despite lacking a mouth Crono had the suspicion he would be frowning. "This is unfortunate. It appears the main motherboard for the terminal is completely fried."

Crono stared at his companion. If the lights were on, he had no doubt there'd be a big question mark above his head.

"However..." Robo knelt down, removing one of the metal panels. In the robot's illuminated gaze, Crono saw the complex wiring and circuitry of the console. Before Crono could even begin to question what he was seeing, Robo reached up and opened his chestplates, revealing equally complex mechanisms that made up his entrails. A brief fumble under the keyboard found him some sort of cable covered in a black plastic, one end of which Robo attached to the part of his chest where Crono guessed his heart would be.

"...I can utilise my internal battery to give the console a small boost. It won't be much, but enough for me to get things working again," Robo finally explained.

Crono nodded, deciding that Robo must know what he was doing. The mechanical soldier's hand entered the nest of wires and cables beneath the terminal until a click was heard, the other end of the black cable having found its mark.

Instantly the terminal sprung to life, the screen lighting up as long strings of data filled it up faster than Crono could keep track of. Robo stood up, a haughty chuckle escaping from his speakers, not unlike what a certain purple-haired genius might do in this situation.

"And now it is a simple matter of activating the backup generator..." Robo stated as he got to work typing away. "...and then press enter."

Click.

BANG!

Crono leapt back in surprise from the loud noise, the entire room appearing to light up as electricity seemed to coil around the cable connecting Robo to the terminal, his robot friend's entire body convulsing and the headlights that made up his eyes flashing for the briefest of seconds before he slumped over, smoking.

Crono rushed to his ally's side, and was about to ask him if he was okay just as the lights came on. And with it Robo seemed to return to life, standing up.

"I am fine, Crono," He stated in an unusually monotone voice, even for him. "As expected, the backup generator has come online, and with it the entirety of the Alt Dome."

Crono backed off a little bit as Robo turned to face him, his body moving in a stiffer and more stilted fashion than before. Did that shock do something to him...?

Before Crono even had time to ask Robo, a pair of mechanical arms shot down from the ceiling, gripping him by his upper arms. Crono's eyes widened as he swung his sword as best he could, attempting to break free. He turned to his friend, who stood there passively.

"All aspects of the Alt Dome are online," Robo repeated, "Beginning Sub-Routine for Primary Purpose Number 1: Conversion of organic life."

Crono's jaw dropped at what he heard, but didn't have time to think as he felt an electric current run through his entire body. His possessed friend's metal face was the last thing he saw as everything went black...

* * *

Crono groaned as he awoke, his entire body tingling. He slowly opened his eyes, shaking his head as he felt his body tugging downwards. As his eyes focused, he became aware of why; he was floating. A glowing blue bubble surrounded his entire body, suspending him at least six feet off the ground, his arms and legs stretched out in a star pattern. And that was when he realised something else.

He was naked.

His clothes, his armour, his headgear, his weapons... all gone. The red-haired warrior floated there, as nude as the day he was born.

His face flushed in anger as he tried to move his body, but it was like he was encased in concrete. No matter how hard he tried, his entire body felt so constricted that he couldn't move. Only his eyes were free. And he almost came to regret that as he saw more mechanical arms lower down from the ceiling.

"Beginning MBCO conversion procedure," A hauntingly familiar voice echoed through the room.

One quartet of appendages approached, each ending in a strange silver bar with circuits running along it. They surrounded the lower half of his right leg, the bars hovering just an inch away from his skin before they seemed to "fold" out. Metal stretched from all sides, as if estimating the size of his leg, and Crono noticed similar circuitry on the side of the metal facing his flesh. What on earth were they doing, he wondered?

He didn't have long to wonder as the "bars" promptly shot forward, pressing against his leg and encasing it in the metal sheets that had folded out, conforming perfectly to the shape of his leg to leave not even a millimeter of space.

And that was when he felt what he would wear was a million daggers stabbing his leg from all sides as the circuits pierced his skin, connecting to his nervous system. If he could open his mouth, he would have screamed. He was in so much pain he didn't even notice how the procedure was repeated with his left leg, at least until the pain started again.

He was utterly helpless, unable to do anything but endure the pain as the same was done to his thighs, completely encasing his legs aside from his kneecaps and feet in this unholy armour. Just as he noticed them beginning to perform the same procedure on his arms, another pair of arms lowered down, these one holding strange octagonal pads. The pads were pressed against his knees, before the same agony coursed through his body while more metal wrapped around, sealing the area between the metal on his thighs and shins while leaving enough room for the knee to bend.

He couldn't bear it. More and more metal encased Crono's body, the pads covering any joints. For his feet, an arced sole was pressed against the bottom of his foot and bonded before encasing the rest, two pads on either side of his ankle serving as a joint while his heel was raised a solid four inches from where his toes were. Meanwhile his arms went through the same excruciating process, binding his arms in metal and circuits. His hands were the worst part, as aside from the joint-pads for his wrists and knuckles, each individal digit and palm needed their own bar, the pain piling up and piling up.

Just as he was getting used to the pain, a new horror revealed itself; a hollow "T" shaped mound of metal was lowered down, hovering just in front of his groin with another mound, this one more covered, hovering from behind. Just as the realisation of what it was dawned on him, both halves were forced forward, encasing his crotch and backside in what almost seemed to be some form of metal briefs. He had no time to even considered it was his poor genitals experienced that horrifice stabbing pain, the circuits leaving no area un-spoiled.

Tears were streaming down Crono's face as another two mound lowered down, these ones hovering close to his chest with holes in either side for his arms. Crono was unable to even register the way two large spheres extended out the front of the metal panel as it was forced onto his chest and bonded with his skin, more folding bars placed on his stomach and back to encase his exposed midsection in the same metal.

Crono was panting as the arms all retracted and he was given a brief respite. He looked down and balked at what he saw; from the neck down, he was completely encased in metal, the pads that covered his joints and the circuits running through his body making him look less like a human, and more like a robot. One much more humanoid than any the encountered, even Robo. But that wasn't all he saw.

He saw breasts. He saw curves. He saw his heels raised up. For whatever reason, these machines were transforming him into some kind of mechanical woman, and quite the well-endowed one at that. He thrashed and kicked and screamed as much as he could, but the field encasing his body meant he did little more than vibrate angrily.

He didn't have long to wait as the final piece of the puzzle was lowered down for him to see. A metal mask, the features perfectly molded into familiar feminine features. He wanted to fight. He wanted to beg. He wanted to scream.

But he could do nothing as the face of Mother Brain was pressed against his own, completely supplanting it as his lips were sealed closed and the pain of the circuits bonding returned. His vision went black, only to return in a much more red-tinted version with various numbers and text in his field of vision.

More folding panels were pressed against the sides of his head and neck, almost completely sealing it. A metal arm ending in thin, finger-like object lowered down and ran along Crono's hip, the colour changing as the letters "MBCO-01" were printed onto the metal. From all angles, a male human was no longer floating in the stasis field, but a silver gynoid. The only remnants of Crono visible was the red spikes of his hair. More arms lowered down, this time gripping Crono's metal body as the blue bubble deactivated. The arms carefully guided Crono from the air onto the ground and released him, and he instantly threw his now-slim mechanical arms out to catch his balance, his raised heels not helping as his heavy metal chest tugged him downwards.

After a few moments of arm waving and wobbling, Crono soon found his balance, though he disliked the way he was forced to thrust his round, shiny buttocks out to maintain it. Instantly, his metal hands flew to his face, trying in vain to rip the visage of Mother Brain off. Despite his best efforts, he couldn't get a decent grip, his fingers sliding off as he was unable to even find a seam or a gap in his armoured epidermis.

As the realisation that he was truly trapped dawned on him, an alarm suddenly seemed to sound. In front of his eyes, the words "INTRUDER ALERT" flashed, and before he could react he felt his entire body move on its own, performing an about-face and marching out of the room. He could feel his breath quickening, unable to stop himself in any fashion as he walked through the facility. Soon, he heard louder, heavier footsteps coming from his left but was unable to even turn his head to see what they were.

Gunshots echoed through the halls as a familiar voice called out. "Crono! Robo! Where are you?" the intruder yelled, Crono's eyes widening as he realised what was happening. He fought and struggled as best he could, but he was completely at the mercy of his new metal shell.

He rounded the corner, catching a brief glimpse of his partner and seeing it was none other than Robo. Lucca stared at the two of them, her grip on her gun shaking as she looked at her two friends.

"N... no..." she gasped, backing away.

Crono wanted to stop. He wanted to scream for Lucca to run and get help. But he couldn't.

All he could do was raise his hand as a laser beam shaped like his own katana extended out from his palm, and he entered a familiar stance while Robo readied his arm weapons. Whether he liked it or not, he was going to fight.

For Mother Brain.

CRONO'S NEW LOOK: ALT DOME - END


End file.
